Children being physically active with a friend may accomplish more than hearing encouragement or being active with a parent, according to a new study presented at the American Heart Association's Epidemiology/Lifestyle Scientific ...

A new study by California scientists has linked chronic exposure to microscopic air pollutants in vehicle exhaust to deaths from heart disease. The finding bolsters evidence that ultrafine particles, which are not regulated ...

Most people consume more salt than they need and therefore have a higher risk of heart disease and stroke, which are the two leading causes of death worldwide. But a study published by Cell Press March 3rd ...

Two hearts, said Keats, can beat as one; but a study led by Weizmann Institute scientists in collaboration with researchers from the University of Pennsylvania shows that sometimes a single heart muscle cell ...

People who drink a moderate amount of coffee daily are less likely to develop clogged arteries that could lead to heart attacks, reveals research published online in Heart. Researchers from South Korea found ...

(HealthDay)—The high number of blood tests done before and after heart surgery can sometimes lead to excessive blood loss, possibly causing anemia and the need for a blood transfusion, new research suggests.

Analyzing data from 58,000 heart stress tests, Johns Hopkins cardiologists report they have developed a formula that estimates one's risk of dying over a decade based on a person's ability to exercise on ...

Social media has opened up a new digital world for psychology research. Four researchers will be discussing new methods of language analysis, and how social media can be leveraged to study personality, mental and physical ...

Women veterans who had specialized heart tests were younger and more likely to be obese, depressed and suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder than men veterans, according to a study published in an American Heart Association ...

The prevailing medical wisdom that Alzheimer's Disease has its origins in the brain has a radical and disputed rival with shocking implications for medicine's relentless efforts to forestall disease, ageing and death, according ...

In a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers have devised a single-step fermentative method for the industrial production of the active drug pravastatin that previously involved a cost ...

Heart

The heart is a muscular organ in all vertebrates responsible for pumping blood through the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions, or a similar structure in annelids, mollusks, and arthropods. The term cardiac (as in cardiology) means "related to the heart" and comes from the Greek καρδιά, kardia, for "heart."

The heart of a vertebrate is composed of cardiac muscle, an involuntary striated muscle tissue which is found only within this organ. The average human heart, beating at 72 beats per minute, will beat approximately 2.5 billion times during a lifetime (about 66 years). It weighs on average 250 g to 300 g in females and 300 g to 350 g in males.